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UBC O Heat head coach Steve Manuel and his women's volleyball team will look to become national champions tonight. (File photo Chris Stanford)
Contributed
François-Xavier Garneau will face UBC Okanagan for the gold, as the No. 3 seed from Quebec City will face the Heat, Canada’s top team, in today’s final of the CCAA championship to determine the best women’s volleyball team in the country.
FX Garneau beat Red Deer earlier on Saturday afternoon to advance to the final, thanks to the strong play of Catherine Laurin. Meanwhile, it was the UBC O Heat dynamic duo of Alex Basso and Leigh Dreher that led the strong attack against rivals Vancouver Island University, as the two helped the Heat sweep VIU 3-0 (26-24, 25-10, 25-23), to get in the final.
Basso and Dreher each contributed 13 kills and 10 digs to the effort, while Kaylan Gouldsborough and Kirsten Lawson followed suit with five kills each. Cait Nyhus was outstanding from the service line with five aces and in the back row with 10 digs.
“VIU came at us with everything they had in tonight’s match, they played a solid game and kept us out of our rhythm for the most part,” said Heat head coach Steve Manuel. “Our players showed a lot of character in that semi-final, we were just not going to let the match slip away from us. Now we face the very tough FX Garneau squad, it will be a classic battle”.
Although they do not meet regularly during the season, the Heat and FX Garneau are no strangers as they have battled in the past at these championships. In 2008, UBC O defeated FXG 3-2 in the national bronze medal match and in 2009 the Heat once again defeated FXG in the CCAA semi-final in three close sets before going on to win the national title.
The gold medal match begins at 7 p.m. Eastern time and will be webcast live at http://www.canadienvolleyball2010.ca/
Tags: CCAA championship final, François-Xavier Garneau, heat, UBC Okanagan, women’s volleyball team
